


Backward in Time

by Trinket



Category: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Genre: M/M, Superbat Week 2020, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:34:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25588360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trinket/pseuds/Trinket
Summary: Batman finds himself two years into the past. Before one awful eventful day. What will happen to his determination to put an end to the alien threat as new lessons are learned?Written for Superbat Week 2020 Day 4 Prompt, Time Travel.
Relationships: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne
Comments: 2
Kudos: 59





	Backward in Time

Batman frowned at the skyline in the direction of Metropolis. Where the alien menace had taken root. He’d placed feelers out to locate information on the  _ Kryptonian. _ To learn if there was anything that could give him an edge, because the world couldn’t take another day like Black Zero Day. Where lives had been lost. Brick and mortar could be replaced, but lives could not. A little girl had lost her Mother. Husbands had lost wives, parents had lost children. The event had orphaned some of the youths that hadn’t been caught  _ inside _ the collapsed building.

Lives had been lost. Just names now on a polished rock and soon to be immortalized on a plaque with their most recent photographs on the walls of the newly constructed building.

With a grimace he whirled around as dawn approached. Lifted up one hand and pressed the button on the grapple hook. It shot up and hooked onto one of the buildings. He swung from one skyscraper to the next. Until he landed on the sidewalk in the shadows. Where he’d left the Batmobile.

Hopping into his vehicle he sped away, beneath the shadow of the roads where trees rose and led him into the woodlands surrounding the Wayne Estate.

Then, overhead a crack of thunder. A bolt of lighting. It struck the ground in front of him and jolted against the rubber tires of his vehicle. Which kept him from being electrocuted and set ablaze.

The flash of light was so bright he’d instinctively closed his eyes. Yet his grip remained firm on the wheel even as the Batmobile’s wheels lifted off the ground for a fraction of a moment before falling back onto the ground.

When he opened his eyes, he had to blink. His car was spinning and all around him was nothing but thick fog. He could see  _ nothing. _ He just held on while gently pressing on the brakes. It didn’t stop. He was glad he didn’t get sick, or too dizzy. Except when it continued for even longer than the UFO ride that most of the carnivals he’d seen had as one of their ride options.

It felt like an eternity before the spinning stopped. Turning the ignition off and putting the car in  _ park, _ he opened the door and stepped out. The thick fog and misting rain began to dissipate. However when the view of the road was clear, he had no idea where he was. The road was nowhere in sight.

_ Nothing _ looked familiar. Not one damn tree. But there was someone parked along the side of the road. A woman trying to change a tire. What a time to be in the suit.

Quick, he ducked back into the Batmobile and watched her. If she needed help he’d offer it, but if he didn’t need to, all the better. At least until he knew what the hell was going on. However he stayed there in his vehicle. The area was dark and remote. Who knew what or who might be lurking in the shadows. Waiting for any vulnerability to present itself.

The woman proved more than capable. She placed the tools back in the car and when he saw her profile as she slid into the driver's seat he  _ knew. _ It was Daily Planet’s own reporter, Lois Lane.

Somehow, he didn’t think he was in Gotham. Yet this looked  _ nothing _ like Metropolis.

Whatever was going on, he had to change. But first, he pulled out a small dart gun and shot it at the back of the car Lane was driving. It would be easier to follow her from a distance by using the tracker. He’d rather not arouse suspicion. 

Turning on the tracking device he waited till she was about a mile away and followed along the same path. Only to wind up in a remote area with cabins and a bread-and-breakfast.

Lane should still have been in Metropolis, getting ready for her Pulitzer Prize. Not here. Wherever here was.

He took a detour where he was able to change out of the suit and into an Armani suit as that was what he had on hand. It was a good thing he also carried cash and prepaid credit cards in case anyone grew suspicious. While he was capable of growing a moustache he had to apply a fake one and a pair of shades. Just so that he didn’t look like Bruce Wayne. If only he’d had some other clothes in the Batmobile handy, it would have improved his chances.

Once he had some semblance of a disguise, he got out of his car back at the bread-and-breakfast. He checked there first to see if there were any available rooms.

There was.  _ One. _ He paid twice the going rate, since it was so out of the blue.

Sitting down at one of the tables, he picked up the newspaper and pretended to read it as Lane walked around the common area to ask her questions.

His brows furrowed when she spoke to one of the women there.

“Miss, has there been anything odd that happened here? About three months ago? Something you don’t see everyday? Maybe a man doing feats that couldn’t be possible?”

“Ah, come to think of it, something odd did happen. One of the waiters, after getting a glass of beer splashed in his face while defending one of the waitresses from roving customer hands, disappeared the next day. However that same night, the trucker who had been more than just plain handsy, walked outside and found his truck mangled.”

“Do you know who did it?” Lane asked the woman.

The brunette shook her head. “No. We don’t even have surveillance cameras here. They’re just fake to ward off potential problems. Not that this place doesn't attract the wrong sort of attention sometimes.”

A man walked over, holding an empty round tray to his chest. “I think it was Joe.” He nodded. “He was the only one that left before the trucker left after getting his fill.”

Bruce wondered who this Joe was. Of course he remembered General Zod’s words. That  _ one of his people _ had been hiding among them. For  _ years. _ Yet the alien, if that’s who had done it, hadn’t hurt the people. He’d only destroyed property. Because of someone’s roving hands, or because he’d had beer thrown in his face, he wasn’t sure. The former he could understand, the latter, well he’d probably have punched the handsy one. Probably not as Bruce Wayne, but as Batman, it was a good bet.

When he noticed Lane turning her head out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the paper and went to turn the page. His fingers paused as he read the date. It was two years into the past.  _ Before Black Zero Day. _ He knew people kept old papers and clippings, but this felt and smelt like fresh paper. It had none of the tell tale crinkles and if someone  _ were _ keeping it as something to remember it wouldn’t have been available for just anyone to touch sitting on a table at a Bed-and-Breakfast.

It was possible he was unconscious and had a hallucinogenic dream. Or, since aliens were  _ real, _ then it stood to reason that time travel was somehow possible. Now he’d just have to figure how to get back to his time. That or just wait until he woke up. But now that there was a possibility he was in the past, it meant Lane was searching for the alien. If he continued to keep an eye on her, then it stood to reason he’d learn more about the Kryptonian. Knowledge that he could take forward with him and put a stop to the dangerous being that could turn on the people any moment. After all, the other Kryptonians had tried to destroy the Earth and its people, why wouldn’t  _ he.  
_   
  
Bruce turned the page and continued to listen and when he was sure no one was looking he’d turn his gaze to wherever Lane moved. She was the key to learning more about the enemy. If anyone knew the Kryptonians vulnerability it might well be Lois Lane.  
  
  
Behind the paper, he sipped from a hot beverage poured for him as part of the fee for staying the night - if not longer.

When Lane finished her interrogations, he waited fifteen minutes before paying for his food and wandering to his own room. He made sure to lock the door. He’d find some new clothes to buy in the morning. There had to be somewhere to make purchases wherever the hell he’d wound up.

Since the place had Wi-Fi he tried his phone, but that didn’t work. His brows furrowed. That would make it difficult to learn anything. He’d just pick up a burner too. He’d noticed a computer at the main desk. Once everyone was asleep he’d sneak down to use it and find out where he was and locate some shops. 

Which was exactly what he did after everyone was sound asleep. He’d never heard of the town before, but there was a city only a couple miles to the west where he could buy stuff. The only problem was that his Batmobile did not appear to be a normal car and he’d had to hide it. Or he could say he’d had a replica of Batman’s car made if he had to. If anyone realized, or asked. He hoped they didn’t.

Which was why he found himself on foot the next day after having memorized the map and list of directions. Having a memory as good as his came in handy, even with mundane things. With the prepaid credit cards he purchased a week’s worth of clothing. Mostly dress pants, t-shirts, a sweater, running shoes, boxers, undershirts, socks, and shorts. Then shampoo, conditioner, cologne - not Bruce Wayne’s signatures, and a toothbrush and all that went with it.

Then he hailed a taxi, thankfully, and headed back. Paid them. Tipped them well and waved them off. He placed the items in his vehicle except what he wanted to change into after a shower inside the Bed-and-Breakfast.

Once he was refreshed from that, he frowned as he noticed a certain car missing from the parking lot. Lane had left.

For three days he continued to follow her. Discreetly. He made sure not to stay in the same place. Yet she was always within a two mile radius. He had binoculars to make sure it was still her driving the car. It was a rental, so he knew it was possible she could exchange it at any time.

And then, she was at the airport. Leaving for some place up in the Arctic. Thankfully there was a shop to buy all the gear he needed for a trip that far North. He’d found an old abandoned garage to leave his car at and paid for a last minute spot on the plane. He’d been tempted for First Class. But any class that Lane wasn’t in proved the best as long as it wasn’t the one he’d usually choose. Except he was in disguise.

It still didn’t make sense that he’d somehow traveled back in time. To a short time before Black Zero Day. And Lois Lane he believed was the key to keeping it from happening. By locating the alien. The only problem was he didn’t have anything that would give him an edge of the Kryptonian. Over Superman, before he’d donned the red cape and fought a war in the skies and the cities of Earth.

There was also the conundrum. Messing with the past could cause irreparable damage to the future - his present. What if he tried to change the outcome and it only resulted in a great calamity? Or worse, a rift in time that pulled their planet, their universe asunder.

But, he could still learn about the alien. Lane seemed to know who he was. Had tried to  _ protect him _ from the other Kryptonians that had descended like gods to reshape the Earth. Superman and Zod had fought. Zod had lost. Yet Superman stayed. Why? For what reason? What purpose? He wasn’t human. He was dangerous. Black Zero Day had proved that. No matter how many lives he saved or how many kittens he helped down off trees.

Lost in such thoughts he was almost - but not quite - startled when the stewardess offered him something to eat.

He declined. Food on an aeroplane was never a good idea. Unless it had been premade by Alfred on the Wayne Company Jet.

Bruce would wait till they landed to find a place to eat. Except he didn’t think there were diners in the Arctic. But he knew how to ice fish and cook over a fire. And he’d been sure to pack protein bars in a bag.

For some time he dozed off, only to feel someone lightly shake his arm.

“Sir, we’ve arrived at our destination.”

He blinked and then nodded. “Thank you,” he got up and found his luggage. Saw that there was some sort of building and hoped he could find his way into it. Otherwise he’d have to leave with the plane when it took off after the pilot had had a rest.

Bruce spotted a man who was carrying stuff around. But he didn’t look to be one of the scientists. The man looked as if… he were  _ listening _ to their conversation. Yet… how could he hear them over the wind? Or at that distance?

Maybe he was wrong.

Later, however, he followed him into a long tunnel. And further into a _ship._ _The ship._

What was he doing!? He should stop him. What if he got hurt?

_ What if he’s the alien? How else would he have hidden himself? _ The questions came, unbidden, but stark.

He tried to be silent as he moved. Followed him.  _ Watched him. _

The man Bruce was staring at pulled out something from his pocket. He appeared to hesitate before pressing the object into some sort of interface.

And  _ then _ another man appeared. As if out of thin air. Some sort of holographic image, surely.

Bruce heard the man he’d followed into the ship ask, “Who are you?”

He ducked behind an object, the corners casting shadows over him. Bruce was glad he’d worn black.

Bruce listened to the conversation. Heard the name’s given as Jor-El, to Kal-El. Who had so many questions. His voice filled with awe.

It was as though the man he’d followed hadn’t known. And the horrors this Jor-El spoke of made it a little bit more difficult to  _ hate _ and  _ to fear. _

This was just a sad, frightened, lonely  _ boy _ looking for answers as to where he came from and why he’d been abandoned. He  _ hadn’t _ been abandoned. But saved and sent to where he’d be safe.

Kal-El had been a newborn. Too young to remember anything. The infant's father had been murdered by General Dru-Zod.

He followed carefully. Hoping neither noticed. Jor-El seemed to take note of him, but distracted his son, Kal-El with information. About the reasons Earth had been chosen. And then he showed him  _ the suit. _ With it’s damn insignia.

It was on Krypton the Symbol of Hope. Except it looked like an  _ S _ from one of the Earth’s alphabets.

This man, who’d been raised by  _ someone _ on Earth sounded so  _ lonely. _ He was no doubt soaking up all the information possible. And then putting on the suit and getting ready to fly the ship out of there.

Which was when he spotted him.

Those ethereal blue eyes widened. The beard, he itched to shave it off. Some might have found it attractive. But he’d seen the face underneath it. Not up close, but there were pictures and video. Although he looked different. Somehow.

_ “Who are you!?” _ The man frowned at Bruce.

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why are you here!?”

“I can’t tell you that either, because I have no idea.” It was true. He didn’t know how he’d gone back a couple of years.

“Are… are you going to tell anyone?” He gulped.

“Tell them what?”

“What you’ve learned.”

Bruce watched him shake like a leaf for a fraction of a second, before he pulled his shoulders back and lifted his chin.

“You’re not about to kill me, are you, Kal-El?”

Kal-El blinked. “What!? No. I-I don’t k-kill.”   


  
“No?”

“No!”

“Then you have nothing to worry about, from me. I don’t know your name, or where you live. And it’s not like I could tell anyone your secret now. That would change the future.”

Kal-El blinked. “The future?”  
  
  
“Yes. Somehow I wound up two years in the past when the road in front of me was struck by lightning.”

Kal-El spoke, “Ship, auto-piolet please?”

“As you wish, Commander.”

Kal-El winced at that.

Bruce watched him walk up to him. Slow. Shy. He saw him grin and his cheeks grow red.

“Thanks. I don’t think I’ll mention you to anyone. They might think I’m crazy, or something. Ma wouldn’t…,” he grew silent and stared at the ground. “Don’t know why I’m telling you this.”   
  
  
“It’s fine, Kal-El.”   
  
  
“That’s… that’s not my name.”  
  
  
“Isn’t it?”

Kal-El scratched the back of his head. “I guess it is. But I’ve been Clark my whole life.”  
  
  
“I doubt you’ll let anyone know your name while in the cape.”  
  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
  
“So, where are we going… Clark?”

Clark blinked, “Somewhere no one can find this ship. It… it belongs to my people. Well it did. I don’t have people anymore.”

“What about your parents? The ones that raised you? Your friends?”

He sighed. “I don’t got many friends. Even less that know about me not being human. Pa had me watch the X-Files and… let me tell you, that is true horror, for me. Or anything like it.”

“Why?”

“Uh, they dissect the alien?”

“You’re afraid of that?” Bruce questioned him with raised brows.

“I’ve had nightmares about it. Pa… he… he died in a tornado. I was there. He stopped me from… from saving him. I didn’t have this suit. It was broad daylight and there were so many people.”

Bruce watched Clark’s eyes. He’d had no idea the alien… no Kal-El could cry. Hadn’t known he had any fears, although he didn’t think they’d have helped him figure out how to take him down.

But here he was, speaking to him before Black Zero came to pass.

Maybe, if he could get home, he’d toss out that new piece of equipment and locate him. He still didn’t want him messing with his city, but it wasn’t his fault, what Zod had done… would do.

Priorities changed. He’d still need to get whatever Luthor found. Stop whatever plot he was hatching. 

Bruce blinked when Kal-El - Clark smiled. 

“I hope we’re friends in the future… whoever you are.”

Bruce leaned forward, close and stared into Clark’s eyes. He’d not realized he had a couple inches on him. Until that moment. “We could be more than friends for all you know.”

Clark’s eyes widened, his mouth parted. “What?”

“Or we could be mortal enemies,” which was where he’d been heading, but now… now he didn’t want that.

“I… I hope not,” Clark’s face was flushed.

Bruce watched him return to the controls of the ship.

“Uhm… where should I take you? I don’t think you’re resistant to the cold.”

“I should probably catch that plane back to where I left my car that came back to the past with me.”

Clark nodded. “Maybe you need another storm, to get you home.”

He hummed. “That’s possible.”

Bruce noticed Clark casting a glance at him now and then.

“You know, you could fly me back to my car.”

“I don’t think this ship, as big as it is, would go undetected.”

Bruce blinked. Did he not know he could fly without having to use the ship? If that was the case he figured it best not to say anything.

“Right.”

Under the cover of darkness, Clark dropped him off. They both noticed the plane was still there and that it would be leaving in the morning. Bruce would be on it.

Clark gazed at him from above, wistfully, and waved. “Bye. Whoever you are.”

“Goodbye… Kal-El.” Then in a whisper, he added, “Clark,” all of it just in case anyone  _ was _ looking and listening in.

The next day he was on the plane and by evening had found his way back to the Batmobile.

Sure enough, that same day, as he was driving, another storm hit. And like before it jolted the car. Lights too bright for him to keep his eyes open. And when he did the car just kept spinning.

There was that possibility he didn’t want to think of or imagine. That instead of returning home to Gotham and to his present, he might be hurdled further back in time, or overshoot into the future.

But when the car stopped and the fog disappeared, he found himself on the same road he’d been on when the first storm hit.

He entered the Batcave and parked the Batmobile. He turned to the Batcomputer and looked at the current timestamp. He’d lost only an hour here.

It was time to stop Luthor from getting his hands on anything that could destroy Superman - Kal -  _ Clark. _ Time for Batman and Superman to have a proper meeting too.

Once dressed in the Batsuit the following evening, after a shower, Bruce sighed.

“Are you well, Master Wayne?”

“Yes, thank you, Alfred.”

“Sir, you’re finally finished staring at the Superman footage?”

“I’ve had an epiphany.”

“Have you, sir?”

Bruce nodded. He still hadn’t put the cowl over his head. “Yes. Strange things have been happening since that day. And one of those things happened to send me back into the past where I learned a bit about him.” And had learned that he had good values even if they wouldn’t work for him or Gotham. Had learned how shy he could be and also how open. How  _ warm. _ Too bad the man was heterosexual. His love of Lois Lane attested to that.

“Sir? The past?”

“Yes, Alfred. It was  _ enlightening.” _

“Did you do anything to change the past?”

“No. It doesn’t seem like it. Everything here is exactly as I left it.”

Once it was late enough and dark enough that night, Batman rode out of the Batcave in the Batmobile. Parked at the building with so many Gargoyles. He grappled up to the Gargoyle with the highest point and called out. “Clark… Kal-El… Superman.” Without the voice modifier.

It wasn’t long before Superman was right there in front of him. 

Bruce smirked when he spotted him and watched as Clark’s - Superman’s mouth parted on a startled-shocked exhalation.

“You’re Batman!?”

“Shh!” He growled.

And then, Superman moved and wrapped his arms around him.

“Am I missing something?” Batman asked.  
  


Superman released him from his hold, after making sure Batman wasn’t about to fall.

Batman noticed the flush of his face, no longer sporting the beard, nor even a moustache.

“I… I missed you.”

“Where’s Lane?”

Superman blinked. “You mean Lois?”

“Aren’t you and her together?”

“Uhh… she’s my friend.”

“Not your girlfriend?”

Superman shook his head, eyes wide and bewildered. Not a look many would ever see, if anyone did, on Superman’s visage. “No!”

“Huh… why not?”

Superman…  _ Clark _ lowered his long dark lashes and mumbled, face red, “I couldn’t get you out of my head…”

Batman’s own eyes widened at that. “What? We barely  _ met.” _

“I know…”

“I didn’t even tell you my name.”

“I know that too.” He looked up at Batman. At  _ Bruce. _ “One does not simply choose who to give their heart to. It just… happens.”

He should tell him no. Explain all the reasons it was a bad idea. Then, he held out one hand and took hold of Clark’s.  
  
  
Then with his other hand he unclasped first one side and then the other of the Batsuit. Revealed himself to the man he’d once considered too inhuman, a menace, an alien that didn't belong. But his perception had changed and it was still changing. This was something he could give him.

“Who are you?”

“Bruce Wayne.”

“Oh… wait… you own… Wayne Towers…”

“Hey… hey, it’s okay. It wasn't your fault. Well maybe in part, but that’s because I imagine you didn’t have enough time to prepare. Didn’t know what was going on. You were alone, weren't you?”

Superman nodded. Bruce pulled him down and hugged him. Rubbed his back and whispered, “We can have our first date at the next gala.”

“Okay,” the man sighed against his ear and Bruce knew that he probably didn’t deserve him, but for once, he wanted to be selfish.

**_EPILOGUE_ **

Then something strange happened. A white-gold wedding band formed on his ring finger and his gloves weren’t on his hands but on the floor.

Superman backed up, eyes widened as he too stared at his own ring finger wearing a simple gold wedding band. Nothing fancy. One that so many wore that even if Clark and Superman both appeared to have the same one no one would think anything of it. Because it was the most common.

“Bruce?”

They both held their heads in their hands as memories plagued them. Rushing them both. Bruce because he had been the one to time travel and Clark because he was Kryptonian and somehow managed to retain both sets of memories.

“You… let me top?  _ All the time?” _ It wasn’t that he didn’t like topping, but that the strongest being on the planet had  _ let him. _ More than once. And just the thought of it had him sporting a stiff one underneath all the Kevlar of the suit.

Clark flushed a deep red. “I’m sorry…”  
  
  
Bruce chuckled and tugged on Clark’s hand to pull him in and kiss him, long and deep, his tongue licking into Clark’s mouth. “There’s nothing to be sorry about. I like it, as long as you’re happy.”

“I am, but  _ you _ messed with time. Things  _ changed.” _

Bruce nodded. He knew that. “Since we both remember, we’ll have to check what else has changed and if there were any negative effects.”

“I’m of the belief that if you mess with time once and try to go back and fix it, everything just keeps on changing and you never get back what once was. Do you  _ really _ want to risk making it worse?”

“No.” 

What Bruce  _ did not expect _ as he was still going through all the new memories was for Nightwing to swing overhead, “Hey, hey, we’re supposed to get ready for patrol, not watch you two make out.”

And there… there was  _ Jason. _ Alive. The way timelines worked was rather strange. Hadn’t he been buried prior to the time he’d wound up in when he’d spiraled back in time!? 

“Hey old man,” He nodded to Bruce and then glanced at Clark and grinned as if the sun rose and set with the man.

Then Bruce remembered a tale Clark had told him. During his travels the world he’d stopped in Gotham once he had melted a crowbar out of a clown’s hands and then frozen a bomb before it set off and set ablaze to a warehouse.

When he’d seen the shadow figure of Batman he’d hidden and waited. Had mentioned being relieved that the fearmonger cared about someone. Besides who was Batman without his Robin?  
  


Remembering the other history where Jason had died at that clown’s hands and the Robin suit was still there with those damnable words, but Jason had survived it.

Unable to help himself, he reached for his  _ sons _ and wrapped them, and Clark, in a hug. Kevlar and all.

And when Alfred found them like that seconds later, he, for once, hugged them all too before declaring that dinner was done and that they should eat before they went back out. It looked like Bruce would have to suffer through blue balls as he wasn’t missing this chance at a dinner with his sons. Both of them, alive and well.

When they reached the upstairs and they were crossing through the living room to the dining hall, he came to an abrupt halt. He pointed at the dome shaped contraption, all chrome-like material on the bottom and clear at the top. “Wha...what is that?”

Dick and Jason glanced at each other. The elder of the two boys asked, “Are you okay, B?”

Clark pat them on the back. “His memories are a little bit jumbled, but it’ll come back to him.”

And it did as Bruce stared down through the clear top of the dome at a fetus that looked about five months along in growth. A birthing matrix. That hadn’t been destroyed in the battle on Black Zero Day. It had survived and Zod hadn’t known about this one. And it was allowing him and Clark to have a biological child together. They still hadn’t determined if they’d call him Thomas, Conner, or Jonathan yet. The baby was clearly physically male. Clark had suggested giving them all female middle names. Thomas Martha. Conner Lara. Jonathan Juliet. As for the surnames they’d agreed the first born would take on the Wayne surname and the second - when they felt they were ready to handle another, would be a Kent.

When they arrived in the dining room, Bruce blinked. There was Timothy Drake.  
  
  
Before he could ask any questions, Clark took his hand in his and lowered his chin to Bruce’s shoulder and whispered, “You recently took Tim in after his parents… if Luthor hadn’t had me in Kryptonite chains, I could have saved them.  _ Would have.” _

  
  
Bruce murmured, “It’s not your fault.” Luthor was a thorn in both their sides as Batman and Superman and as a CEO of Wayne Enterprises. 

They all sat down. Bruce at the head of the table and Clark all the way at the other end as the second head of the table. With the boys between them.

It seemed that even with a family, a lover, his mission as Batman continued. But he had partners out there with their boots on the ground too. Or flying high in the skies over the rest of the world that needed  _ hope. _

Bruce smiled across the table at Clark, and Clark smiled back with all the love shining in his gaze and Bruce silently promised  _ not to fail him. _ This man that loved him that he loved a thousand fold. Not that he’d say as much aloud.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I do hope you enjoyed this. I'd love to hear what your favorite part(s) may have been.
> 
> I hope you're all staying safe and are well in these turbulent times.
> 
> Anyone else suffered through a long heatwave this summer? We had a nice day yesterday, but for a couple of weeks, wooo was it sweltering.
> 
> Please do join us at the [Batsupes Community](https://discord.gg/jkmRrb3)


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